Climate Denial Paved the Way for Republican Conspiracy Thinking

August 26, 2021

Above, climate denial paved the way for the Republican reliance on conspiracy theories.

Example, quack nostrums become holy grail for Republican Covid Denial.

Posted by greenman3610
Filed in Crock of the Week

4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Climate Denial Paved the Way for Republican Conspiracy Thinking”

neilrieck Says:

August 26, 2021 at 6:26 am
Agreed. To investigate deeper you need to read the 2012 book titled “The Republican Brain” by Chris Mooney. If it is true that “some” of this division is caused by different sized brain structures (amygdala in consveratives; anterior cingulate in liberals) then trying to convince someone from either side to change their political positions may be as impossible as trying to permanently change their eye color. Notice that this philosophy ignores the 30-60% of us who live in the political center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology_and_political_orientation

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- dumboldguy Says:
  
  August 26, 2021 at 11:39 am
  Agree that The Republican Brain is a great source. I touted it here years ago and gave a copy to a staunch Republican family member who promptly “lost” the book. Have tried to loan it out to other right-leaners with no success—-apparently they don’t like to read about themselves if it isn’t all glowing good news.
  
  Slightly OT. Back during a discussion of police training and screening in the WashPost, I wrote a letter to the editor suggesting that the same type of brain studies be used to look for differences between “normal” cops and the murderers. It did not get published—-apparently the folks at the Post think a definitive scientific approach is not as good as one that allows them to engage in endless BS (and sell more papers).
  
  Reply
- J4Zonian Says:
  
  August 28, 2021 at 7:23 pm
  Correlation is not causation.
  
  Do the size and condition of the structures influence the thoughts, do experiences of various kinds including those that cause the thoughts influence the size of the structures, does something else cause both, or all of the above?
  
  The same questions are asked about the amygdala vs. hippocampus in trauma response, and the question of whether something different makes some people respond to traumatic events with action and the something different helps them heal, or responding to traumatic events with action helps people heal.
  
  Traumatic Stress. Bessel van der Kolk
  
  Trauma and Recovery,: the aftermath of violence–from domestic abuse to political terror. Judith Herman
  
  The Body Remembers: the psychophysiology of trauma and trauma treatment. Babette Rothschild
  
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John Kane Says:

August 26, 2021 at 7:52 am
Whom the gods would destroy… .

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